Paul Miller Racing, and team drivers Christopher Haase and Dion von Moltke, finished fifth in the No. 48 Castrol EDGE Audi R8 LMS Sunday in the Oak Tree Grand Prix at Virginia International Raceway.

Both Audi drivers led the race and the finish was the best for the Castrol Audi team in the last three races despite high heat and slick track conditions.

“It was a difficult day today in the heat, especially toward the end of the race, the track gets really greasy, so it’s difficult for everybody,” von Moltke said. The TUDOR Championship is so close, especially in GTD, so you really have to go for everything and attack everything. That’s what we were doing today.”

Von Moltke, who led the race’s opening laps after starting from the GT Daytona (GTD) division pole Sunday for a class-leading third time this season, ran no lower than second in his 50-minute stint.

Haase also ran first and second for the majority of his race-closing double stint before a late spin. He was staying in touch with the race-leading Ferrari while running second just under 30 minutes from the finish when the Audi spun off course.

“The race went pretty well for us but all of a sudden it was pretty difficult to maintain the same speed and pace,” Haase said. “I was trying to get the maximum out of the car. After the long back straight I felt a rear lock-up under braking and then I spun.”

Haase quickly continued and pitted a lap later to have the Paul Miller Racing crew sweep some grass debris off of the Audi’s front end. The team got the Audi right back in the race and Haase defended the top-five position to the finish.

Unofficially, the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing Castrol EDGE Audi R8 LMS, and Haase and von Moltke, now have 224 points in both the GTD team and driver championship standings. That’s just two points behind the second place team and drivers and eight points out of the lead in both championships.

A full Paul Miller Racing race report from the Oak Tree Grand Prix will follow.